Police Arrest Suspect in Slaying of Teenage Boy

Police arrested a suspect in the slaying of a 14-year-old South Los Angeles boy and asked the public’s help Friday in finding two other men wanted in connection with the case.

David Michael Porter, 19, a suspected gang member from South Los Angeles, was arrested Thursday after a dragnet that involved more than a dozen LAPD detectives.

“Simply put, we got our man,” said Capt. Kenneth O. Garner of the 77th Street Division. “There’s more out there and we’ll get the rest of them.”

At a news conference Friday attended by Mayor James K. Hahn, Police Chief William J. Bratton and the victim’s mother, Keva Byum, investigators said two other suspected gang members were being sought.

“We want to make sure that no other 14-year-olds lose their lives,” Hahn said. “Help us bring closure to this case.”

Investigators identified only one of the other suspects: Fred Douglas Brown, 19, also of South Los Angeles.

Byron Lee Jr., a ninth-grader at Fremont High School, was riding his bike in an alley near his home on McKinley Avenue and 81st Street on Oct. 9 when a gunshot from a dark-colored sedan knocked him to the ground, witnesses told police.

Witnesses told police that two men got out of the car and spoke briefly to the boy, who had his hands clasped in supplication, before shooting him 19 more times.

The shooting shocked even the most experienced LAPD detectives. Community members rallied behind the boy’s mother and staged a vigil in memory of the boy, known as B.J.

Byum thanked police and the public Friday for their help in finding the suspects.

“We have to stand up,” she said. “It doesn’t stop with my son. We have so many other kids, we have to stop these people from taking our children.”

Residents at the news conference gave detectives investigating the case a standing ovation, said community activist Najee Ali.